JACK OF ALL TRADES: Adam has dabbled in acting and even politics during his absence from the music biz [GETTY]

However, the former Corrie star despised being a groomed and half-naked product of the pop machine – and much prefers the ride this time around.

Speaking to the Daily Star Online, the 35-year-old revealed that he thinks the music industry is a much better place to be nowadays, and that the fans' thirst for live gigs plays a massive part in that.

Adam told us: "It's a massively different scene now. Back then, record sales were all that mattered. The record companies were just completely fixated on promotion. You could be locked away for photo shoots and interviews for weeks, you never really performed.

"Everything was just for personal purposes, and I found that really hollow. You weren't allowed have a personality, you were just a puppet."

And Adam's carefully manufactured image was practically the titular creation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Any pre-teen/teen (or, let's face it, fully grown woman) will surely remember the video for Adam's 1999 hit I Breathe Again, where he writhed naked in a plastic box. As you do.

MOVE OVER 1D: 5th Story were the surprise success of The Big Reunion [TWITTER]

This sex symbol image, which incidentally made him a favourite on the gay scene, didn't sit well with Adam: "I wasn't in the right place. When you're being told you're an Adonis, everyone loves you… you look like a prat and act like a prat, so you feel like a prat. I wasn't suited to it."

Sadly for all of us who had posters of his rippling torso Superglued to our walls, Adam soon dropped out of the music industry, returning as Corrie's Nick Tilsley in 2003 for THAT gay kiss storyline before heading off to New Zealand to star on Shortland Street.

“We kind of had to prove ourselves every step of the way. We were the underdogs”

Adam Rickitt

But praise the music gods, because Adam is back to fulfil our teenage fantasies as he hits the road with 5th Story for The Big Reunion's boyband tour.

When Adam teamed up with Gareth Gates, Blazin' Squad's Kenzie, Dane Bowers and Kavana to create a supergroup, even the most faithful of boyband fanatics had doubts. Could clean-cut Gareth really pay Freak Me justice? Did Kavana have more than one song?

Surprisingly, the lads actually seemed like a legitimate group, and more than matched the performance of their fellow Big Reunioners.

Adam admitted: "We kind of had to prove ourselves every step of the way. We were the underdogs. Every other band already had a benchmark they had to live up to, but we were going out as a brand new band."

But despite being together for a matter of weeks, 5th Story's big Hammersmith debut didn't phase Adam, saying: "You know what, I was really relaxed. I knew we were going to have fun. Even when we first started, I knew we were going to have a great time. Nobody knew what we were going to do, whether we were just going to sing a song each, but we blew everyone's expectations."

TEENAGE DREAM: Adam was more famous for his abs than his musical abilities [YOUTUBE]

The hunk, who is currently planning his wedding to Katy Fawcett, even thinks that being such a brand new band works to the supergroup's advantage: "With the other bands, their fans from before feel like they have ownership of them. But because we're a new band, today's audience kind of have ownership over us."

5th Story are ready to hit the road in October with 3T, Damage and A1, as well as last series' 5ive, 911 and Blue. But don't think that Adam will have any first day at school anxiety about hooking up with the senior class – because the Big Reunion originals are actually his former party pals.

He revealed: "5ive were the ones I used to hang out with on tours and at Smash Hits parties and stuff, 5ive and 911. That's why I watched the first series, because the cast were the guys I hung out with."

A party with 5ive, 911 and Adam Rickitt… has someone been snooping around our dream diaries from 1999?

However, while the future looks rosy for 5th Story, the group had their fair share of drama on the show; most notably Kavana getting drunk and pulling sickies.

Adam was quite the peacemaker with the I Can Make You Feel Good singer, and doesn't hold his outbursts against him, explaining: "You know, some people get lost. That's why we're there as a band, to support each other. I can understand that you can have 363 amazing days, and a couple of bad ones – but people only judge you on the bad ones. But we're completely behind him, and there to support him."

Rickitt has been extremely open on the show about his battle with bulimia, in an effort to raise awareness about male eating disorders. But despite his personal traumas, the backstories of the other bands on the tour were still eye-opening.

Adam said: "3T's story was heartbreaking. And Damage, with their financial problems… it was terrible. I've been lucky that I had emotional trauma, but didn't lose my family or my money. However trauma manifests, it's the same thing. And if you've been through that, you can relate to it, and you come through it as a stronger person."

Smart, sensitive and in possession of abs of steel? Be right back, off to watch I Breathe Again on a loop.